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ProfYin-Zhe Ma

Professor

Physics

Orcid identifier0000-0001-8108-0986
  • Professor
    Physics
  • +27 21 808 3372 (Work)
  • +27 21 808 3391 (Work)

OVERVIEW

We focus on connecting fundamental physics with astronomical observations to understand the fundamental laws of the Universe, and to unravel the nature of dark matter and dark energy. In particular, our active research directions include the epoch of reionization, extragalactic astronomy, the early Universe, dark matter indirect detection, neutron stars and black holes. We heavily involve in South Africa’s MeerKAT, Square Kilometre Array (SKA), Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) telescopes, LSST (Vera C. Rubin Observatory), FAST telescope and CMB Stage-4, and also use data from Atacama Cosmology Telescope, South Pole Telescope, ESO’s Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), and Dark Energy Survey Instrument (DESI).

STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY GROUPS MEMBERSHIP

MEDIA

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ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • CITA National Fellow
    University of British Columbia, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vancouver, Canada2011 - 2014
  • Research Associate
    University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Center for Astrophysics, Manchester, United Kingdom2014 - 2015
  • Senior Lecturer
    University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Chemistry and Physics, Durban, South Africa2015 - 2017
  • Associate Professor
    University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Chemistry and Physics, Durban, South Africa2018 - 2021
  • Full Professor
    University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Chemistry and Physics, Durban, South Africa2021 - 2023
  • Full Professor & (Founding) Head of Astrophysics Division
    Stellenbosch University, Department of Physics, Stellenbosch, South Africa2023
  • Stellenbosch-Groningen Research Chair on Computational Astronomy
    Stellenbosch University, Department of Physics, Stellenbosch, South Africa2025
  • South Africa Research Chair (SARChI) on Computational Astronomy
    Stellenbosch University, Physics, Stellenbosch, South Africa1 Sep 2026

DEGREES

  • Ph.D, Astronomy
    University of Cambridge, United Kingdom2008 - 2011

LANGUAGES

  • English
    Can read, write, speak, understand and peer review
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
    Can read, write, speak, understand and peer review